Farewell

As we travel somewhere for some time, we get used to that place and those people who surround us. We also become a little part of their culture, because we are curious about the way they live and we want to know about it. Visiting Italy for few weeks, showed how small cities can be enormously different from big cities.
It also taught me how every culture is unique and how people see everything totally differently. Let me give you the most simplest example. In Toronto, when we go to the bar or restaurant we are most likely to tip the waiter/waitress who served us because that's how it is for us. In Italy, tipping the waiter is totally something big, because their wage is as high as the wage of an engineer so it wouldn't matter for them at all.
Shopping boutiques and grocery store would close early on the weekend.
All these small, different, unique and cultural things we learn make us understand and learn more about the culture and also get used to it very quick.

As my amazing trip ended in Italy, I can say that Italy stole my heart. I may not be Italian, but as they say "Home is where your heart is." My home is in Gaeta now. I'm planning on living there happily every after! :)

North America in Italy

I honestly never saw so many people talking about North America in Italy. Who would ever think that everybody there knows about Canada? Sorry, US are too mainstream these days. Just kidding.

I went to the bar with my friends one of the nights (Trinity College Pub in Rome, the most amazing bar ever! I HIGHLY recommend), I ordered margarita, and as I know in Canada they taste much sweeter and better because margarita in Italy is totally a different drink. I didn’t know that! Don’t make the same mistake there, so order margarita cocktail instead. 

(Unfortunately this is not the photo of the margarita I was stuck with)

Anyway, I came up to the bartender and I asked him to “exchange” the drink since I didn’t like it. As I said that, he stopped doing what he was doing, stared at me and smiled. I didn’t know what he was smiling about so I asked what’s going on. First thing he tells me “Are you from North America?” Since I’m originally not Canadian, I was totally surprised why he asked that. After that he tells me this “I know people in North America can exchange their drink if they don’t like it. Here, in Italy, if you order, you don’t like it, then you have to finish it.” Ugh. Yes, I wasn’t an exception, so I was stuck with that drink. If you’re ordering a drink, make sure you order it carefully; otherwise you’ll be stuck with it.

Another time, as my friends and I were taking a walk at the beach in Gaeta, we started talking to the guard that worked there. His English wasn’t perfect and I don’t speak Italian, but we had a nice conversation. Of course, he guessed where I was from. As I told him I was from Canada, he right away asked if I’m from Toronto. I was speechless. Toronto is known in Italy? He told me that Toronto is the place that every Italian would love to visit and that Toronto is on the news, newspapers, Internet and everybody talks about it.

I actually felt very honoured, because I didn’t know that North America was so popular in Rome and a small city like Gaeta.

Tourist sights

Vatican City

When people travel to another country, there’s a purpose for it. I’d like to name some places that you must visit when you’re in Rome. Of course, the first one on the list is Vatican City! It’s absolutely gorgeous and stunning.

Second place to visit is of course Colosseum and the area of Old Rome. Actually feels like it’s ancient times when you’re in Old Rome.

Old Rome

Sunrise from Gianicolo Hill

Third tourist sight, which is a must, is Gianicolo Hill. In my previous blog post I wrote that we went to see the sunrise on the hill and we were amused. It’s a place where you can see Rome from everywhere.

Spanish Stairs

And last but not least is Spanish Stairs! The most visited tourist sight. I never saw so many people there, and going up the stairs to see the crowded city is worth it too.

P.S Also, for the gelato lovers, try and get some real Italian gelatos while you’re there, the most delicious thing when it’s hot outside. I don’t think there’s a need for me to say this but do not forget to taste of a real Italian pizza!

Italians don't like to shop

Everybody loves shopping, right? For some reason, I didn’t think like that about Italians. In Rome, I never saw a big mall with neither shopping stores nor shopping places. 

However, they do have small clothing boutiques that open till 1.30pm afternoon on the weekends. Isn’t it so weird? Because usually people go shopping on the weekends, afternoon time, but not early in the morning.

Also, when you do go shopping for clothing or shoes, make sure that you know the sales associate who works there’ll assist you. Basically, the shopper sometimes isn’t allowed to touch anything and the sales associate does the job and everything for the shopper. Shopping for clothes is one thing, but when you go grocery shopping Italians have their own schedule for it too. For example, grocery stores, supermarkets and other business places close on Sundays after 7.30pm in addition to that they take long lunch breaks. They might be from 12.30 till 3 or 4pm. It seems very strange to me. Business wise, it’s good to have grocery stores open to make budgets and make extra money, but I guess that’s not the case. They prefer leisure time to working and making money. Speaking of shopping, since Rome is visited by millions of people each year, they have souvenir shops only in the shopping heart of the city, which is located on Piazza del Popolo. 

Despite's that, Italians clothing shops are amazing! Too bad they do not carry some of the brands in North America.

Naples Pizza

From my previous blog post you probably know that I visited Naples for couple of hours.

Naples is known for the best Italian pizza!!! And it’s so true. :)

Of course my friends and I had to stop by at the restaurant because we were so exhausted and hungry. And because we were so exhausted and hungry we realistically didn’t look at the name of the restaurant. BUT I’ll update this if I remember the name :)

As soon as we enter the restaurant, the waitress welcomed and seated us. It was a pleasurable environment: music playing, people enjoying their time. Since I’m from Canada, I’m used to waitresses to bring water as a start... Clearly, it’s not like that in Naples. When I asked for water she looked at me like I was asking for million bucks. Haha. She brought us all water and took our enormous order… Four different pizzas! It did not take them long to make those pizzas. We all shared and tried each one of them. They were so damn delicious with crispy thin dough and fresh vegetables.

As our drinks we all got Coca-Colas with different fancy things on it.

Honestly, it was a pleasant experience in that restaurant and I loved Naples pizza!

They definitely do have and make the best and most delicious Italian pizza ever!

If you ever end up in Naples, come by and enjoy their pizza :)

 

P.S Hopefully, I’ll remember the name of the restaurant and will ask my friends, stay tuned.

World's garbage

Couple of days in Gaeta, going to the beach everyday and having fun got a little boring. So my friends and I decided to go to Naples for a day just to see around. We scheduled a day, went to the station to buy tickets that were pretty cheap. Our train ride was about one or one and half hours. As we came out from the station, all we could see is garbage. Garbage was everywhere. Besides garbage, there were a lot of weird people, I guess they were homeless, but they were in dirty clothes sitting on the ground. Honestly, I never saw so many “homeless” people outside of the train station. Since I’m from Canada, seeing something like that was so shocking. It seemed like Naples was completely different country because it was so different from Gaeta, which is one of the smallest Italian cities. We were walking on the street made of garbage. Everything I could feel underneath of my sandals was garbage. It felt like the entire world threw the garbage at Naples. I wish I could take better pictures to show you what we were going through.

We started walking away from the train station, so we could head to the centre of Naples and see the tourist sights, take pictures and have fun. 

As we were walking down the street and talking in Russian, discussing our plans, some random man came up to us: “You guys are Russians? I’m Russian too, I just want to let you know, keep your purses and expensive stuff to yourself. A lot of people get robbed here, but anyway enjoy your trip, guys!!!” We couldn’t even reply to him and he disappeared in the crowd. After he said all that to us we started walking closer to each other and held tight to our valuable belongings. I really appreciate him for that.

Honestly, Naples is very pretty city! We saw the most prettiest church, the most beautiful view to mountains, very tall buildings and architecture looked so nice.

 I wish it was much cleaner and I really hope it will. But if you ever travel to Naples, here's my tip for you: do not take any valuable stuff with you and make sure you are ready to see world’s garbage everywhere. However, it’s fun to see how other cities are so much different from each other. Oh, and we lasted there only few hours and were so glad to come back to our “home” in Gaeta.

La Grotta del Turco or Montagna Spaccata

When I was visiting Gaeta for a week, I always wondered if this small city had any historical mysteries. As I did my research I found out about Grotta del Turco or “Montagna Spaccata” as Italians call it. It’s a mountain split in half located right beside the church.

My best friend and I were at the beach and we decided to ask people around where it was located. When we asked a man who worked at the beach, he had no idea what we were talking about. I tried to explain somehow in English since I do not speak Italian and their English isn’t perfect. Few minutes later, his friend jumped into the conversation and surprisingly said: “Si, si! Montagna Spaccata!” He showed us where it was. And guess what? It was right beside our beach!!! We found out about it two days before we had to leave. Even though it was really hot, we got some gelatos and started our little trip. As we got there, we saw a very pretty church. We had to pay €1 each to get to the Grotta del Turco. Luckily, few guys who were walking ahead paid for us. How nice of them though! :)

As we entered the gates, we had to go down the stairs. I counted about 276 steps… I think. When we got there, the view was amazingly beautiful! I took couple of pictures of course, but photos are different than reality. There were a lot of people, you could totally see the sea and people on the shipping just swimming by. It was a very precious view. I definitely recommend this to anyone who ever visits Gaeta. Hands down you’ll love the view!!!

There is also a photo of how la Grotta del Turco looks from the seaside. 

P.S walking back upstairs was a good workout too!